Man, the pair I used for a while must have been way different then the ones you guys hear, it had very neutral bass. That's saying something, because I really don't like the M50s at all.

Same headphones, different ears, different preferences.

What sounds shrill and harsh to a 19 year old may sound neutral to a 50 year old.

And graphs from both Innerfidelity and Golden ears, while great for measuring a headphone's audiophile worthiness in headphone-only listening conditions are useless for evaluating a headphone's studio mixing capabilities because for one, using pure tones are not directly relevant to our perception of noise because our ears analyzes sound in terms of spectral content that isn't present in the tones. This has been common scientific knowledge since the 60's. Secondly, because headphone listening is side-presentation, not how we normally hear, and completely different from all other forms of listening (frontal presentation), the graphs give us no clue of how each headphone translates to most frontal listening scenarios.

This is why an expensive headphone like a Stax 009 or a HD800 can have a mix sound completely different than what it sounds like on a pair of speakers, and this is why engineers have avoided headphone mixing at all costs for years.

Of course, one can adapt to a certain pair of headphones to the point where he can compensate for any discrepancies that pop up, or also use multiple sources to assist in mixing.

But most headphones' transparency and balance at this time cannot be trusted in mixing scenarios because the frequencies change when switching from a side-presentation to a frontal one.

The ATH M50 has been better than most headphones in that scenario and that's what the cans are designed for.

Engineers have raved about their abilities in studio scenarios and audiophiles have misinterpreted that as meaning they're a great sounding set of cans-which they are not. So, they're overrated for audiophile listening but not for studio use.

They do 1/3 octave smoothing which is commonplace. This isn't 'correcting', it just removes small fluctuations so the slopes can be seen easier. It doesn't make them "unreliable" because those small fluctuations are inaudible.

InnerFiedelity's graphs average together multiple measurements, which has a similar effect.

Hi guys... I am sorry to bother but this topic is kind of related with the choice i have to make...

I have right now a pair of V6's and a pair of Aurvana Live!'s. I like the v6 sound sig although sometimes i admit it is a bit harsh and steryle. I like the cal!'s but to be honest i expected much more from them... i find them too laid back on the highs.... soundstage is pretty good though.

I usually use the v6's for edm and the Cal!'s for rock/pop..... but usually i end up using my v6's more since i listen to a lot of trance and they have a satisfying bass and some really great sparkly treble for the epic parts of trance... :)

These days i noticed that the m50's price had dropped and that they are now at 99 euros with free shipping.... (i am from Portugal by the way...)

After seeing this i thought of selling my cal!'s and use the money to buy the m50's....

But now here is the key question.... Are the m50's that worth it?

Some already told me that no and that this would be a waste of money since getting the m50's would only be a sidegrade and not an upgrade over the v6's or the cal!s..... What do you guys think?

Edit: to make things even more complicated.... i can get a pair of srh440 in mint condition or a pair of philips uptowns for 40 euros each....

The m50's are still a better value at 99 euros than these two at 80 (40 each)?

Hi guys... I am sorry to bother but this topic is kind of related with the choice i have to make...

I have right now a pair of V6's and a pair of Aurvana Live!'s. I like the v6 sound sig although sometimes i admit it is a bit harsh and steryle. I like the cal!'s but to be honest i expected much more from them... i find them too laid back on the highs.... soundstage is pretty good though.

I usually use the v6's for edm and the Cal!'s for rock/pop..... but usually i end up using my v6's more since i listen to a lot of trance and they have a satisfying bass and some really great sparkly treble for the epic parts of trance... :)

These days i noticed that the m50's price had dropped and that they are now at 99 euros with free shipping.... (i am from Portugal by the way...)

After seeing this i thought of selling my cal!'s and use the money to buy the m50's....

But now here is the key question.... Are the m50's that worth it?

Some already told me that no and that this would be a waste of money since getting the m50's would only be a sidegrade and not an upgrade over the v6's or the cal!s..... What do you guys think?

Edit: to make things even more complicated.... i can get a pair of srh440 in mint condition or a pair of philips uptowns for 40 euros each....

The m50's are still a better value at 99 euros than these two at 80 (40 each)?

All help is more than apreciated... :)

Cheers....

I honestly would not bother with the M50. The V6 is much more capable.

Some people told me that basically the difference between the two Is that the m50 as much more bass and recessed mids.

How about the srh440 and the uptown? Is any of these at the level of the m50s?

The M50 is significantly less refined than the V6. M50 has better extension extremes but has THD in the treble and sounds rude and sibilant. Never touched any of Shure's headphones, nor the uptowns. Just, really, don't get the M50.

Get a pair of velour earpads from Beyerdynamic's website for your V6 instead, the EDT-231V pads to be precise. Totally transforms the headphone, into something far better than what its price range suggests. You'd be surprised at how massive the difference can be even though they're just pads.Edited by takato14 - 7/14/13 at 11:44am

Out of all the headphones out there the M50s are most likely to be overrated. The reason being that they are often the first pair of "good" headphones that a person may get and naturally bias them over other options. Furthermore, the M50s are very common and a lot of people who are new to high fidelity headphones will recommend them simply on the basis that they like them and as there are so many M50 owners they will naturally dominate the discussion. I would say that they're not so much overrated but that they dominate the discussion to such a degree that other and better alternatives don't get the spotlight as much as they should.

i pretty much gave up the m50s. Since my v6s seem to bem the same there is no point in getting the m50s... And also since i had the chance of getting the srh440s and the uptowns for 80 euros both it would not be very smart to get the m50s for 100.